Specifically, among age segments, respondents 25-34 years were more likely than any other age segment to be currently using a "spam" filter.
According to the data, 77.1% respondents say "spam" is a nuisance - and fully one-half (54.1%) call it a "major nuisance." Moreover, the perception of "spam" as a "major nuisance" increases with respondents' income; in fact, fully three out of five respondents with household income of $75,000 or more say "spam" is a "major nuisance."
Additionally, respondents who spend 20 hours or more per week online are much more likely than respondents spending less time online to view "spam" as a "major nuisance" - 62.9% to 52.0% respectfully.
The problem of "spam" has become so pervasive that some estimates label 45% of all email sent as "spam" - and that number is growing! Nearly three trillion "spam" messages are sent each year; that's 13 times the total snail mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Moreover, the average email user is hit with nearly 2,200 "spam" messages annually - an extraordinary number considering Internet Service Providers are filtering out 80-90 percent of "spam" messages sent.
What's most detrimental, the BURST! survey confirmed that "Spam" does have a negative impact on respondents' opinion of an advertiser. A significant 70.7% of respondents would not purchase a product advertised in "spam" email. In fact, over half (53.5%) say they have a less favorable opinion of a company, product or service they recognize advertised in "spam." This finding also is slightly more noticeable among higher income segments - where three-quarters say they would never purchase a product advertised in "spam".
As a results, BURST recommends that when planning a marketing campaign, marketers choose their online media outlets wisely. "For email campaigns, understand the processes list providers have in place to ensure your advertising message is being delivered to a willing and receptive audience. Insist on lists that include addresses of people who have voluntarily opted-in - and been verified (double opt-in)."